Unknown Birthday
by punkyrockz
Summary: BB never told anyone about his birthday. Well, he better start now.


Today was Beast Boy's birthday. Today was April Fools Day. His birthday. They had never celebrated BB's birthday. Not in the three near four years that they have been a team. They celebrated everyone else's, but no one seemed to realize that Beast Boy never had one. They never thought about it. That was ok though.

Today was a day of mourning for Garfield Logan. Today was the day that he lost his parents those many years ago in Africa.

Today was when Garfield's mask always nearly came off. He laid in bed until noon. The others just thought he was planning a prank for today, or that he was sleeping in. They never thought he would be flipping through a photo album.

Today was his 16th birthday. He would earn his inheritance today. All of the money that his parents had left behind in an account for him until he turned 16. Today BB was going to do something he had never done before. He was going to let his mask go. He was going to tell the team what today was. He just hoped that they would understand. But first, he needed to do something.

For once BB came into the living room before eleven without any crime. He had his Doom Patrol uniform on, but he wore a hoodie and some old blue jeans over it. "Um, I have something to do today. It won't take long. If there is a problem, I have my communicator." Beast Boy spoke this to Robin, who not even looking up from his newspaper, nodded. He then turned, morphed into a green hawk and flew out of the window. He made it to the National Bank in a few minutes. Garfield already had an appointment and he was led into an office.

After settling everything Beast Boy left the bank with a new credit card in his wallet and his parents scientific journal from the vault. The first thing that he did in town was buy the beloved Moped he always wanted. That was the only thing he got for himself that day. Beast Boy then drove to the mall. He then got each of his friends something before loading them into his backpack and driving home. Beast Boy saw the team's favorite bakery on the way back. Might as well get a treat. He went in and bought a dozen cupcakes. When Beast Boy returned surprisingly, Cyborg wasn't in the garage working on the T-Car. Garfield parked the bike before grabbing the cupcakes and slinging his backpack onto his shoulder.

Beast Boy placed his citizen clothes in his clean room and headed to the living room after he grabbed his photo album. Thankfully he didn't have to find everyone because they were all in the room when Beast Boy finally appeared.

No one turned to look at him. Good. He still wasn't sure how he was going to approach this. It gave him some time to figure it out. Glass clinked as he set his back pack on the kitchen counter.

He opened the bag before sliding out his first present. He walked over to Cyborg, who was playing video games, and handed him a piece for the T-Car that he had been looking for. Cyborg looked surprised, but before he could say anything he had moved onto Starfire. He gave her a book called 'Welcome to Earth' and gave Robin the blueprints for a new gadget he had designed for his belt, and finally Raven a glass chess set. By the time he was finished the only thing left in his backpack was the only book Beast Boy owned. It, of course, was in Swahili. The only language he could fluently read. All of his team mates were looking at him. He stood in the middle of the room fingers fidgeting nervously with the backpack.

"Happy birthday." Beast Boy said.

"But Beast Boy, today is not my day of birth." Starfire protested.

"I know you guys never realized it, and I never wanted you to realize it, but we never celebrate my birthday. And, um, it's today. Today's my sixteenth birthday." Beast Boy looked everywhere but their eyes. "And, um, I decided, that today, I am going to tell you guys, everything."

Before anyone could say something he had started talking. "Can we all like, sit together?" he requested.

The four all stood before sitting at the dining room table. Beast Boy reached in and got his photo album out. "So I was born normal in Africa. My parents Mary and Alex Logan were biologists studying the animals. I had blonde hair and blue eyes. Everything was fine for a while, I played with the other children from the tribe and played with the animals in the jungle. And I grew up speaking Swahili and I recognized some key English words." He showed them a picture of his family. He was about four and still normal. "When I was four, just after this picture I was attacked and bitten by a green monkey. I caught a deadly disease called Saukita. It was going to kill me painfully by the end of the the week. But my parents had been working on a cure, and they had the first serum finished. It hadn't been tested. They didn't know if it was going to work. My skin which turns green when you get infected, stayed green. And so did my hair and eyes. That seemed to be the only thing different about me. Just after I turned five, though, my mom was nearly attacked by a Black Mamba, but I turned into a mongoose, and I ate the snake. That was the last piece of meat I have ever tasted. I worked to develop my powers. I had to learn every single piece of information possible on every animal that I turned into. I am a living encyclopedia. I can tell you everything about almost every animal known to man kind. I had to learn how to keep from letting the animal instincts control me and take over. Otherwise I would forget I was human at all." Beast Boy shook his head.

"Sorry, I got off track. Ten years ago, on my sixth birthday, we were going down river. We were looking for a gorilla colony. I was happy to go. Because I had just learned to morph into a monkey. Size matters, bone structure matters, all of those little things. I could only morph into things around my size or smaller at the time. But they were going to see if I could talk to them. They knew that I would be ok as a monkey. It was my birthday present." Beast Boy paused.

He dared himself to look up. All of his friends were either staring at him or at the picture in awe. Raven looked passive as usual. Robin was listening intently. His mask watching him. Starfire was watching curiosity in her eyes. And Cyborg clutched the picture looking at it and then him every few seconds.

"But the weather changed. In Africa the weather changes instantly. What was calm turned into a storm. The boat was leaking. Almost all of the research my parents spent years working on was gone with the current. My parents told me to fly away. To morph into a hawk, the only bird I knew. The last thing they ever said to me was 'I love you' in English. I didn't want to but I turned into a hawk and I flew away. But not before I saw them go over the waterfall. That was the last 'happy' birthday I ever had. A family took me in. He taught me how to speak English but I still didn't know how to read. But when he learned of my inheritance when I turned 16, he tried to kill me. Make it look like an accident. As you can imagine I ran away. I lived on the streets for a couple years. I stole. I lived in Gotham for a little while. That was when I figured out what I wanted to do with my life. That is when I met you Robin. Well, not met, met, but I would see you, helping others, stopping people like me, people who were stealing. I knew it was bad of course, but there was no other choice. I had to steal for food. After you nearly caught me once I left Gotham. I didn't want to be just someone that you caught stealing from an innocent person. But I knew I wanted to do good. So I found the Doom Patrol. I had been working on my morphing on the street. I would dissect roadkill on the side of the road. By the time I found the Doom Patrol I could morph into most common animals. But nothing bigger than a gorilla. That is why I went to the Doom Patrol. To get help. Soon I learned about every animal on this planet known to walk on Earth. But I didn't have discipline. The whole reason that I left the Doom Patrol. So then I was alone again, homeless, with no money. I wandered for a while. Making friends with the stray cats and dogs, I ate from the trash. Until I reached Jump City. I thought I was just passing through. That was before an alien decided to take her anger out on the city." He chuckled at the last sentence. "And that's my story." Beast Boy slid his photo album in the center of the table. Then he grabbed his keys and backpack.

"I bought cupcakes. I'm going for a ride."

"In what?" Cyborg asked, "because you sure aren't going in the T-Car."

"My Moped of course. Dudes, I told you I was going to get one when I had the money." he grinned his Beast Boy grin before grabbing a cupcake and leaving the room a smile on his face. It was good to tell them the story behind his mask, and his birthday.


End file.
